Gingrich rallied Freddie's troops (Politico)

New details from Newt Gingrich?s contracts worth $1.6 million with Freddie Mac show that the Republican hopeful wasn?t just a boardroom consultant, but served as a high-profile booster for the beleaguered organization. He even gave a rallying speech to dozens of the group?s political action committee donors in the spring of 2007.

Shortly after the ?rah, rah? speech, as one source described it, Gingrich gave an interview for the Freddie Mac website, where he supported the group?s model at length. The interview is no longer on Freddie?s site.

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Gingrich said in the interview that Freddie has ?made an important contribution to home ownership and the housing finance system,? even though many Republicans revile it.

Gingrich has dribbled out the details of his relationship with Freddie Mac over the last few weeks, giving Mitt Romney repeated opportunities to accuse him of supporting the very entity many Republicans point to as the driving force behind the housing bubble. The issue is coming to the fore again, just as the GOP primary race enters Florida ? ground zero of the housing crisis.

Romney went after Gingrich Monday night on his firm?s $1.6 million worth of Freddie Mac contracts during the NBC debate in Tampa, Fla. saying: ?You could have spoken out in a way to say these guys are wrong, this needs to end. But instead, you were being paid by them. You were making over $1 million at the same time people in Florida were being hurt by millions of dollars.?

Gingrich offered a technical defense saying he was not an official lobbyist for the group.

?I have never, ever gone and done any lobbying,? Gingrich said. He described himself as ?a consultant.? Gingrich also made the point that he personally profited about $35,000 from the contracts.

Previously, Gingrich claimed he was a ?historian? for the failing mortgage giant, a line that his GOP rivals, like Romney and Jon Huntsman, attacked as absurd.

The disparity between Gingrich?s description of his work for Freddie, and the new examples suggests that attacks from his rivals aren?t about to go away, even as the campaign tries to do damage control. They released some details of one of the contracts before the debate on Monday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories0112_71903_html/44289946/SIG=11mldcorb/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71903.html

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